Inter-institutional positioning in the context of conflict resolution: The case of state court and Gadaa Court in the Oromia region, Ethiopia

State courts and indigenous conflict resolution institutions often work side by side to settle societal conflicts. The current study examines how actors of an indigenous institution of conflict resolution called Gadaa court and state court discursively position each other in the context of Oromo society, Ethiopia. The study draws on the interview transcripts of actors of the two institutions analyzed using Positioning Theory as a theoretical framework and analytical tool. Results of the analysis show that in the storylines of both the elders and the judges, the elders and their institution were positively positioned as healers of social wounds, self-sufficient, reliable, socially legitimate, institutionalized, better preferred, philanthropist, and guardians of social disorder. In contrast, the judges and state courts were negatively described as mechanical, inefficient, corrupt, less preferred, incompatible, and aggravators of social disorder. However, both parties witnessed the growing tendency of malpractices and corruption among the elders of the Gadaa court. The actors of the two institutions built their identities as competitors rather than collaborators.